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Deep Dive Into Twitch Channel Points
- February 1, 2024
- by Svitlana Drach
With over 140 million monthly active users and over 8 million active streamers as of January 2024, Twitch is bigger now than it’s ever been before. Live streaming has grown consistently over the years, and continues its reign as the most popular live streaming platform in the world.
But for streamers, Twitch’s massive popularity has been somewhat of a double-edged sword. Because of the sheer number of streamers, it is now more difficult than ever before to get noticed on the streaming platform. New streamers who are just now starting out are at a massive disadvantage as there are more broadcasts vying for the viewer’s attention at any given moment. In order to set your stream apart from others, you’ve got to make yours unique. This can be achieved with the likes of custom stream packages, unique alerts or even some of Twitch’s built in features.
Twitch channel points are one feature that allows streamers to add some additional personality, interactivity, and fun to their streams. In this guide, we’ll be going over what Twitch channel points are, how they work, and why you should implement them into your stream today.
What are Twitch Channel Points?
So, what even are Twitch channel points? Well essentially, channel points are a free currency that viewers can use in order to interact with a Twitch streamer’s broadcast. Twitch channel points are unique to every channel, so Twitch points do not carry across channels. While there are several default channel point redemptions, streamers have the ability to customize their channel point rewards.
Creating unique channel point rewards can be beneficial as it can make streams more fun, allow streamers to have some additional interactivity with viewers, and allow their stream to stand out from others.
How to Setup Channel Points on Twitch
Setting up channel points on Twitch is a pretty straightforward and simple process. However, before you can set up channel points, you will first need to reach either Twitch Affiliate or Twitch Partner status.
In order to become a Twitch Affiliate, there are several prerequisites:
- Gain 50 followers
- Maintain an average of 3 viewers
- Stream for at least 500 minutes within the last 30 days
- Stream over at least 7 days over the last 30 days
After fulfilling all four of these prerequisites, you will gain the status of Twitch affiliate and will unlock the ability to utilize channel points rewards on your channel.
There are five different channel point rewards available by default. There are the following:
- Highlight My Message – This one is pretty self-explanatory. Redeeming this reward allows your next chat message to be highlighted, which makes you stand out from others in the stream’s chat room.
- Unlock a Random Sub Emote – For those who aren’t subscribed to a channel, viewers who redeem this channel point reward will unlock a random Sub Emote for the next 24 hours.
- Send a Message in Sub-Only Mode – Streamers have the ability to activate Sub-only mode, which means that only followers who are Subscribed have the ability to send messages in chat. Redeeming this channel point reward allows a non-Subscriber to send a message while Sub-only mode is active.
- Choose an Emote to Unlock – Similar to the random Sub Emote reward, but the viewer can pick the Emote to unlock temporarily (for 24 hours).
- Modify a Single Emote – This channel point reward allows the viewer to modify an existing emote in new and fun ways. For example, a viewer can change the color filtering, horizontally flip, or animate an existing Emote.
How To Add Chanel Point Rewards On Twitch
Of course, you aren’t limited to just the default channel point rewards – you’re free to create custom channel point rewards, and can create as many as you’d like! You’re only limited to your imagination, as you can make just about anything (as long as it isn’t against Twitch’s rules).
Just about every aspect of Twitch channel points can be customized, from the name of the channel points, to the channel point icons, to the rewards themselves, and the process of creating custom channel point rewards is fairly straightforward.
Overall, the process of customizing channel point rewards is very easy. Here’s a step-by-step breakdown of how you can create new customized channel point rewards:
- Navigate to the “Creator Dashboard.”
- Click on “Viewer Rewards.”
- Click on “Channel Points.”
- Turn on “Enable Channel Points.”
- Customize the Points Icon – Here, you can edit the points display, which will change what your points look like. To do this, you’ll need an image for your points and in three different sizes: 28×28, 56×56, and 112×112. You can also name the Twitch points whatever you would like.
- Click “Manage Rewards & Challenges.”
- Select “Add New Custom Reward.”
- Edit the new channel point reward – Here is where your creativity will come into play! Add a unique title for the reward (45 characters max). The title should be easily understandable to the viewer, and in as few words as possible.
- Set the cost of the channel point reward – Next, you’ll set the price of the channel point reward. Followers earn 10 points per every 5 minutes of live watch time. With this in mind, it’s important to strike a good balance when pricing rewards. You don’t want the reward to be so cheap that your viewers can redeem it constantly, but you don’t want the reward to be so expensive that nobody can ever afford it.
- Create an Icon for the channel point reward – Just like the points icon, you can customize specific rewards by customizing the icons of specific channel point rewards. They have to be in PNG format and follow the same sizing as the points icon, but the customizability of these can really make them stand out and can be fun for viewers! Additionally, these rewards can be colored, which allows them to stand out from the rest of your channel point rewards.
- Set cooldowns & limits – Finally, you’ll want to choose whether or not your reward will have any sort of redemption limits. While many rewards work fine as being unlimited in terms of user redemption, others might need to be limited. For example, one common channel point reward is “Do 10 Pushups.” While this reward can be fun when redeemed once, six redemptions in a row can quickly make it a nightmare for the streamer. Setting a cooldown will put a limit on how many times the reward can be redeemed per stream or per any set amount of time.
Twitch Channel Points Ideas
Having trouble thinking of ideas for channel point rewards? Here are some ideas:
- Hydrate – Tell the broadcaster to hydrate – with water, preferably.
- Stretch – Sitting in place for extended periods of time can be tiring, painful, and more importantly, unhealthy. One popular channel point reward that many streamers opt for is “Stretch,” which is exactly what it sounds like – it’s a reminder to stand up and stretch your muscles!
- Posture Check – If you’re a sloucher, then this is the perfect channel point reward. It gives the power to the viewer to tell you to stop slouching!
- Drop a Weapon – Forces the streamer to drop the current weapon that they are using. This reward is fun, as it can really change up gameplay by adding some additional challenge.
- No Cursing – If you have the mouth of a sailor, then this one can be hard. This reward forces you to not curse for a certain amount of time.
- Pick Next Game – One fun way to offer some additional viewership participation is by offering a reward that allows the viewer to pick the next game that you get to play. You could even choose a suitable game to play with viewers. Obviously, this is a reward that should be used very sparingly, but it can work if offered on a rare occasion.
- Outfit Change – Another fun channel point reward is changing your outfit in some sort of way – this can be as basic as putting on a silly hat.
- Dance Break – Similar to the stretch reward, but more fun! Sitting for hours on end is bad for you, so including a channel point reward that allows you to get on your feet is a great idea – plus, it could prove very entertaining! Whether your a professional dancer or were born with two left feet, this is a great option.
- Change the Environment – Request for the environment (streamer’s setup) to change in some sort of way. If you happen to have a streaming setup with changeable RGB lights, then this is perfect – viewers could have the option to change the color of your lights to a particular color.
- Sound Effect – This is a fun one. If you’re a fan of playing around with sound boards and silly sound effects, then you should try assigning your favorite sound alerts to Twitch channel point rewards. As far as ideas for sound effects, something as simple as a fart noise could work. You can set up sound alerts easily via a Twitch plugin such as Trigger Fyre or Sound Alerts.
- Green Screen/Video Effects – On a similar note, you can also easily turn funny video alerts into channel point rewards. There’s something undoubtedly hilarious about watching a meme pop up during a crucial moment of a game, and Trigger Fyre can do just this. Try setting up your favorite green screen videos as channel points, and watch the stream shenanigans ensue.
How to Earn Channel Points on Twitch
The process of earning channel points on Twitch is incredibly simple: viewers will earn channel points simply for watching your live stream. Here is a breakdown of how channel points are earned:
- Watching a Stream – For every 5 minutes of watch time, viewers will earn 10 channel points for that specific channel. This means that you will earn 120 channel points per hour.
- Watch Bonuses – Additionally, viewers can claim a watch bonus every 15 minutes which is an additional 50 points. Unlike regular channel points, watch bonuses have to be manually claimed. Bonuses do not stack when left unclaimed.
- Watching as a Subscriber – Subscribed viewers will earn extra channel points when watching a streamer’s broadcast. These extra channel points will depend on the Subscription tier.
- Tier 1 Subscribers will earn 1.2x channel points
- Tier 2 Subscriber will earn 1.4x channel points
- Tier 3 Subscriber will earn 2x channel points
- Watch Streaks – Additionally, Twitch rewards its returning viewers with watch streaks. A watch streak starts when a viewer returns to watch a consecutive stream, and stays for at least 10 minutes. These are the rewards for watch streaks:
- Watch Streak 2 – 300 channel points
- Watch Streak 3 – 350 channel points
- Watch Streak 4 – 400 channel points
- Watch Streak 5 – 450 channel points
- Viewer Actions – Viewers can also earn additional channel points for certain actions performed during a live stream. They include
- Participating during a raid – 250 channel points
- Follow the streamer – 300 channel points
- Cheer (with a bit donation) for the first time – 350 channel points
- Gift a Sub – 500 channel points
- Wagers – The final way that viewers can earn Twitch points on stream is through wagers during a prediction. Predictions are stream events that either the streamer or one of their mods can set up that allows viewers to wager their channel points. Predictions essentially are events where viewers choose between two different options; depending on the outcome, they can either win or lose channel points. Examples: Predicting which team will win in an online match, or predicting a speedrunner will be able to beat their current record time.
How to Give Channel Points on Twitch
At this moment in time, there is actually no way for streamers to simply outright give channel points to viewers, in the form of a free gift. The only way that viewers can gain channel points is through earning them by watching streams while they are live.
With this said, however, there are many Twitch users that have requested for this to become a feature. There is even a page on Twitch’s official forums that is requesting for this feature to be added in with over 800 votes and dozens of user comments. So while there is currently no feature that allows for streamers to give channel points to their viewers, it may eventually wind up getting added.
How to Refund Channel Points on Twitch
Thankfully, redeeming channel points is very easy to do. Only a streamer or one of their mods have the ability to refund channel points. Here is the process of how streamers can refund channel points:
- Click on your profile and click on “Creator Dashboard.”
- Find the “Viewer Rewards” section and click on it.
- Choose the “Channel Point” option.
- Select “Manage Rewards” and “Challenges.”
- Select the “Review Request Queue” option.
- A screen will appear, displaying all of the viewer channel points that have been redeemed on your channel.
- Select the desired channel point rewards. You will have the choice between “Mark as Complete” or “Reject.” Selecting “Reject” will give you the option to refund the redeemed channel rewards.
Additionally, channel moderators also have the ability to refund channel points. The step-by-step process for refunding Twitch points is slightly different for mods than it is for the streamer. These are the necessary steps:
- Go to the streamer’s chat section. On the bottom right corner of it, there should be an option to select the Mod View icon.
- On the bottom right corner, select “Review Requests Queue.”
- A screen will pop up, showing all of the viewer channel point rewards that have been redeemed.
- Select the redeemed rewards that you’d like to refund. You will have the option of selecting “Mark as Complete” or “Reject.” If you select “Reject,” then it will give you the option to refund the redeemed channel points.
Channel Points FAQ
Can I reset the Channel Points my viewers have earned?
No, channel points cannot be reset.
Can I see which of my viewers have earned the most points?
No. At this time there is no way for you to see how many channel points your viewers have, though Twitch has shared that they are currently working on this feature for a future update.
Can I give out bonus points to certain viewers?
No, there’s no way for streamers to reward bonus Twitch points to certain viewers. But as previously mentioned, this is a highly requested feature so there’s a chance that Twitch might implement it in the future.
What is the maximum number of channel point rewards?
You can have up to 50 channel point rewards.
Summary
So there you have it a deep dive into everything related to channel points on Twitch. If you’re a new streamer looking to improve your channel viewership, then customizing your channel points is an excellent way to stand out. But beyond that, there are many other ways to improve your channel, including custom widgets, alerts, emotes, and designs.
That’s where we come in: Hexeum provides a huge library of custom designs that can help you to elevate your stream, and really stand out from others. If you’re looking to improve your channel, then look no further – explore Hexeum’s store today!
This entry was posted in Guides.
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